Trouble
by MadisonEmrys
Summary: James never meant to hurt Lily, never meant to cause her trouble. All he wanted now was to find out the truth and get her back.


_"Oh no, I see_

_A spider web it's tangled up with me_

_And I lost my head_

_Thought of all the stupid things I've said" _

_–Coldplay, 'Trouble'_

"Lily! Lily, come back, I can explain!" James said exasperatedly, reaching out towards her.

Lily shook her head menacingly. "There is nothing you can do to fix this, James Potter. Nothing," she seethed. She glowered fiercely before turning on her heel and disappearing out of the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room.

James hung his head, running a hand through his already untidy hair. Muffliato-ing himself, he let out an anguished scream and punched the wall furiously; reveling in the pain it made him feel. He punched it again and again, each time focusing more on the pain in his hands and not in his heart. He didn't care if it was nearly one in the morning, he wouldn't be able to bear it if he stopped.

Finally, after his hands were so bloodied and battered he couldn't feel them anymore, he gave up. Breathing heavily, James fell into a nearby chair and stared at his broken hands, wondering where it had all gone wrong, what had led to this pain in his chest.

He couldn't comprehend what he was feeling; the anguish he felt over losing Lily. Knowing he only had one chance to fix this, he decided to go back to the beginning as best he could, to figure out what had happened to get him in this tangled mess.

"James? James mate, wake up. That's it, you bloody prat," Sirius said, going in and out of focus as James fully woke up.

Out of habit, he reached over to the nightstand only to hiss in pain when he stretched out his hand. Remus picked the glasses up and gently placed them in James's bandaged hand so he could put them on himself. He had forgotten his late night rampage in the common room. _I wonder if there's still blood on the wall_, James mused.

"Lily…she broke up with me. I-I don't know what I did or how it got so bad. Help me, please. I can't remember half the stuff I've been doing recently. I need to go back to the start," James said, his voice cracking slightly. He swallowed hard, looking at each of his friends in turn.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all glanced at each other before turning back towards James.

"All right, mate. This is going to be tough, but nothing good ol' Prongs can't handle!" Sirius declared, clapping him on the shoulder.

The four of them were almost to the doors when a sprightly Madame Pomfrey rushed over and handed Remus a potion for James's healing hands. With that out of the way, the four friends went to the place they knew best to keep secrets hidden—the Room of Requirement.

Peter quietly queried, "What about that prank we pulled on Avery and his lot at the beginning of the year? With the rubber chickens?"

"No, no, that's definitely not it. That's inconsequential. Maybe the time we enchanted those snowballs to hit Snivellus in the back of the head for the entire day?" Sirius posed.

There was a pause as they all pondered it. It seemed plausible. "That's a possibility but I don't think that's really it. I mean, he's just one person and Lily broke her ties with him two years ago," James stated.

"Then I'm calling it," Sirius sighed exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in defeat. "We've been wracking our brains for the last two hours and haven't thought of anything. It's been as hopeless as Hufflepuff's Quidditch team!"

James bolted upright in his chair. "That's it!" he exclaimed.

"What's it?" the other three chorused, perking up slightly.

He scanned the room before responding. "I think I know how it started."

They moved in closer, eager to hear James's theory.

He shifted in his seat and placed his forearms on his thighs before speaking. "Remember our confrontation with Malfoy and his group before the first game of the year? He threatened me, saying that I wouldn't have a clue what was coming for me and that I'd never figure it out. He said, he said I was caught in a spider's web, one I couldn't hope to escape. What do you think he meant?" James said, his brow furrowed in confusion.

It was silent as they all let it sink in. Remus spoke up first.

"I think he meant to get into your head before the match, that's all. I'm sure he didn't mean anything to do with Lily. Don't worry about it too much," he said, his expression unreadable.

"Whatever you say, Moony. Let's go back to the common room; I want to see if I can talk to Lily," James replied, his expression equally unreadable.

~*~*~One month previously*~*~

**_Remus's POV:_**

I was on my way back from the library, taking a different route than usual, when I heard voices coming the opposite direction. Recognizing the pompous and superior undertones, I immediately swung into a secret alcove behind a knight of armor to listen in.

"What we need to do is get Potter and Evans apart. Make them hate each other. That's the only way our plan will work to bring them and their little group down. Once they aren't together, and only then, then can we take over the school and begin our rule as the leaders of Hogwarts. Master wants this done by the end of the term, but, being ambitious, I think we can do it much sooner. Now go do as you've been assigned. This is going to be a long process. Report back to me in a week's time," Avery commanded to his followers. I noticed Severus hung back from the group somewhat, his head low. The Slytherins split up then, only Avery and Severus continuing down the corridor.

I waited for a few minutes until the sound of footsteps had completely faded before exiting the alcove. Taking a secret passageway back to the Gryffindor common room, I restrained myself from immediately telling Lily of everything that had just gone down and its future implications. I told myself to wait and see how it played out—for a little while—and then I would intervene. My friends didn't deserve this destruction because of petty rivalries, but I thought it was much, much more than that.

Remus knew exactly what Avery's intent had been, and malicious it was. Remus had been listening carefully to what he said and to whom it was spoken. What information he gleaned was not good for James, but he knew there was nothing he could actively do to prevent James's getting caught up in it without becoming suspicious.

He tried to warn Lily about what might happen. To no avail, his preventative measures did nothing to prevent the breakup. When he found James on the floor of the common room, his hands bruised and battered, his heart broke for his best mate. The spider had finally caught James in its trap, and James had blindly taken the bait that led to the mess he was in now.

Remus could only hope James would figure it out on his own and win back Lily before it was too late. They only had two months left of their seventh year at Hogwarts and if he didn't do it by then, all was lost.

And that was something Remus J. Lupin couldn't bear to face again.

~*~*~2 weeks later*~*~

Lily shoved her way through the portrait hole and hurried up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Before she got very far, she felt a hand wrap around her bicep. She immediately knew who it was and forcefully shook it off.

"I don't want to talk to you right now, Potter," she said abrasively, continuing her climb up the steps.

"Just listen to me for five seconds, will you? I know what I said was wrong and untrue and hurtful, but I didn't mean to do it. I would never hurt you like that and you know it so don't try and deny it. Remus told me that Avery and his gang have been planning something all year to get to me. They did, all right? What I said, what I did to you, I would never have done in a million years. Please, Lily, let me fix this. Let me fix us," James pleaded, his eyes frantically searching hers.

She stared him down for a moment before replying coldly. "Our place. Five minutes. Make sure no one follows you." Lily whisked up the stairs and vanished into her dorm.

His heart leaping, James raced to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak and nearly ran to their secret hiding place. Lily arrived not a moment later. She looked at him as if to tell him to get on with it.

"I finally figured it out. The last few weeks we were together, I remember that there were large periods of time I simply couldn't remember. When I would be doing my schoolwork, I couldn't do some of it because I didn't remember learning it. It was like my mind had been erased for certain periods of time. I didn't think anything of it until now. I talked to Moony about it and he agreed with my idea," James paused.

"We think I was Obliviated, at least partially, during those times I can't remember. It's either that or I was Imperiused, which wouldn't surprise me either. Just ask Sirius or Remus, they think I was acting strangely too. I think that Avery wanted to pull me away from you so that he could get what he wanted out of us splitting, although I'm not sure what that was.

"I'm truly sorry for everything I did and said to you. I lost my head and now that I go back and think about it, it was some of the stupidest things I've ever said and done. So what do you say, Evans? Still love me?" James asked, a slight smirk on his face.

Lily couldn't help but doubt that he was fine, but she knew him much better and knew he had been hurting the past few weeks. "Oh, James Potter, what am I ever going to do with you?" she said, a grin spreading across her face as James picked her up and spun her around before kissing her delightedly. The pair left under the invisibility cloak, but once back to Gryffindor tower, they walked in with their hands securely attached.

Word spread quickly that the power couple was back together. When Avery heard, he got angry. But, he wanted to wait to tell his master the news. There was a small part of him that understood young love or lust—he had found his current plaything here at Hogwarts as well—and besides, he figured they wouldn't stay together if trouble pursued them still.


End file.
